Aging is the single largest risk factor for disease in developed countries. The ongoing demographic change in the American population is greatly increasing the proportion of the population at risk for socially and economically significant age-related diseases. Age-related diseases increasingly represent a national emergency, one that may undermine the long-term benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of (ARRA, 2009). This P30 proposal addresses the goals of the ARRA by creating a new research group predicted to grow from three to six personnel over four years. This new research group will collaborate with and significantly enhance the activities of the Interdisciplinary Research Consortium on Geroscience;a group of research projects aiming at understanding the aging component in age-related disease. The new research will have "interdisciplinary training in aging and disease" or "translational research" or "inflammation biology". Funding the application will accelerate the progress of science that provides essential knowledge for the development of effective therapies for age-related diseases, an area of vital to the economic wellbeing of the nation. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Change in the American population is greatly increasing the proportion of the population at risk for socially and economically significant age-related diseases. Age-related diseases increasingly represent a national emergency, one that may undermine the long-term benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of (ARRA, 2009). This project will help accelerate the progress of science that provides essential knowledge for the development of effective therapies for age-related diseases, an area of vital to the economic wellbeing of the nation.